LONDON May 17 (Reuters) - ICE sugar inched higher, and arabica coffee and cocoa futures were little changed early on Thursday, weighed by soft financial markets linked to the deepening crisis in the euro zone. Robusta coffee futures on LIFFE were little changed, having earlier touched a fresh eight-month peak, boosted by strong demand and diminishing exchange stocks. SUGAR * Raw sugar futures on ICE edged up and stood near a 20-month low, within their recent range, pressured by a growing global 2011/12 surplus and potential for additional exports from key producer India. * ICE July raw sugar was up 0.08 cent or 0.4 percent at 20.81 cents a lb at 0833 GMT. The contract dipped to 20.07 cents on Monday, a 20-month low for the front month. * New York July sugar SBN2 will test a resistance at 20.99 cents per lb, and a successful break above will open the way to 21.56 cents. * A London-based broker said that the market remains within the recent down channel, so unless further physical offtake becomes apparent, he would expect prices to continue to consolidate at 20.00/21.00 cents a lb. * U.S. commodity company Cargill Inc said on Wednesday it has not changed its trading strategy despite its recent absence in the delivery of the sweetener to the raw sugar market, a process it dominated over more than a decade. * Thailand, the world's second-biggest exporter of sugar, will produce 10.2 to 10.3 million tonnes of the sweetener in the 2012/13 season, eclipsing the record 10.2 million tonnes it had produced in the 2011/12 season. * Brazil's Copersucar, the country's biggest sugar and ethanol trader, forecast sugar production in that country's key center-south region at 32 million tonnes in 2012/13 season, down more than 3 percent from an estimate by major industry group Unica. * London August white sugar was up $1.40 or 0.2 percent at $578.10 per tonne. COFFEE * Arabica coffee futures on ICE were little changed. July was off 0.20 cent or 0.1 percent to $1.7780 per lb with the market drifting towards a 20-month low, basis second month, of $1.7220 per lb touched on May 9. * New York July coffee KCN2 is expected to revisit its Wednesday high of $1.8215 per lb, as a rebound from the May 9 low of $1.7220 will extend. * London July robusta coffee edged up to a fresh eight-month high of $2,220, underpinned by strong demand and diminishing exchange stocks, before easing back to stand little changed, down $1 or 0.05 percent to $2,188 a tonne. * A fall in Indonesian coffee premiums to 2-month lows this week spurred buying from foreign roasters, while bigger discounts in rival Vietnam also lured consumers, dealers said on Thursday. COCOA * ICE cocoa futures were also little changed, with ICE July down $8 or 0.35 percent at $2,284 a tonne. * Dealers' focus began to shift to the development of West Africa's 2012/13 October-March main crop. * Cameroon's cocoa exports hit 167,944 tonnes by the end of April since the season began in August, putting them nearly 11 percent below the 188,163 tonnes shipped during the period a year ago, according to data from the National Cocoa and Coffee Board released on Wednesday. OTHER MARKETS * European shares extended their losing streak on Thursday due to what a senior fund manager called "the domino effect" of crises in Greece and Spain, and investors said European equities would remain under pressure in coming weeks. * Spain officially slipped in to recession in the first quarter, final figures confirmed on Thursday, leaving the country threatened with a prolonged slump as the euro zone struggles to balance austerity with growth.

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